Word origins

• alethicOf or pertaining to the various modalities of truth, such as the possibility or impossibility of something being true.
• alethiologyThe branch of logic dealing with truth and error.
• aletho-true, truth
• alethonymThe true name of a person.
• alethoscopeAn instrument, invented in the 1860s, for viewing magnified pictures by means of a single lens inside a box. By varying the intensity of the light, the same picture can be shown as "daytime" or "nighttime".
• aletophyteAny plant that grows by the wayside or where the natural vegetation has been disrupted.
• aleuro-of or relating to wheat flour
• Alexandrian laurelAn ornamental shrub of species Danae racemosa, in the asparagus family, with glossy leaf-like stems.
• AlexiaresOne of the sons of Heracles and Hebe, guardian, along with his brother Anicetus and his father, of the gates of Mount Olympus.
• alexithymicA person who has difficulty feeling, processing or understanding emotions
• algedonicPertaining to both pleasure and pain.
• algedonicsThe scientific study of pleasure and pain responses.
• alginuresisPainful urination; dysuria.
• algo-pain
• algophobiaFear of pain.
• allanto-sausage-shaped
• allantoisA sac, having a number of functions, that develops in the alimentary canal of the embryos of mammals, birds and reptiles.
• allelo-One another, each other, mutually, reciprocally.
• allelomorphSynonym of allele.
• alliesthesiaThe relationship between the pleasure associated with a stimulus and the internal state of an organism
• allithiaminethiamine allyl disulfide, a lipid-soluble form of vitamin B1 that occurs naturally in garlic
• allo-Nonself; nonself but of the same species.
• allochlorophyllFormer name of chlorophyll b
• allochroousChanged in color, as plumage after moulting
• alloclasiteA brittle monoclinic sulfosalt mineral of the arsenopyrite group.
• allocrineRelating to or denoting foreign hormones being taken up and eliciting a response in an organism (for example, hormones in breast milk.)
• allodapicdeposited as a sediment from a turbid current
• allodoxaphobiaFear of other people's opinions.
• allœoticCapable of causing allœosis; alterative.
• allopatryThe condition of being allopatric.
• allophylicRelating to a race or a language neither Aryan nor Semitic.
• alloscutumthe flexible part of the dorsal body wall behind the rigid scutum in a hard tick, particularly a female — the alloscutum is the part of the body wall that must stretch to accommodate the blood that the tick swallows when it engorges in preparation for laying eggs.
• allostasisThe process of achieving stability, or homeostasis, in the body, through physiological or behavioral change.
• allotropeAny form of an element that has a distinctly different molecular structure to another form of the same element, with different physical properties and often different chemical properties.
• allotropyA property, exhibited by some elements, of existing in multiple forms with different atomic structures.
• alogiaA general lack of additional, unprompted content in normal speech, a common symptom of schizophrenia.
• alopecoidSimilar to or resembling a fox.
• alopekisA Thracian cap made from a fox scalp.
• alpha and omegaThe first and last; the beginning and end.
• alphitomancyAn Ancient Greek method of divination using barley meal, used for instance to reveal guilty parties; it entailed feeding a person or group barley meal, and judging those who felt no effects to be innocent, while judging those who felt indigestion to be guilty.
• alysoidcatenary
• alytarchAn official responsible for maintaining order at the ancient Olympic Games.
• amadelphousOutgoing; gregarious.
• amaranthineA dark reddish-purple colour.
• amaryllidAny member of the family Amaryllidaceae; an amaryllidaceous plant.
• AmaseiaSynonym of Amasya (in antiquity)
• amaurophiliaA sexual attraction to darkness or being in the dark, or a partner being blind either through disability or physical restraints.
• amaxophobiaFear of being in or riding in a vehicle.
• ambixSynonym of alembic.
• ambly-Blunt, dull, not sharp, dim.
• amblygnathousHaving relatively short and blunt jaws.
• amblygonAn obtuse-angled shape, especially an obtuse triangle.
• amblygoniteA mineral, a mixed fluoride and aluminophosphate of sodium and lithium that is an important ore of lithium.
• amblyopeA person afflicted with amblyopia.
• ambrotypeAn early type of photograph in which a glass negative appears positive when displayed on a black background.
• amelicBorn without limbs.
• amianthusA type of asbestos with long, soft, thin fibers.
• amnio-amnion; amniotic
• ampelo-vine or grape
• amphi-Located on the opposite side of, or referring to two distinct sides or ends of a region or object.
• amphiblestroidesThe retina.
• amphibolgiaA grammatical construction that can be interpreted in two or more different ways; an ambiguous or equivocal statement arising from word order or sentence structure rather than from the meaning of individual words.
• amphiboliaAmbiguity in writing; amphiboly.
• amphicoelousHaving both ends concave; biconcave.
• amphictyonicOf or relating to the amphictyons or their League or Council.
• amphictyonyA religious foundation or co-operative shared between Greek city states during the classical period, typically to support the temple or cult of a deity shared by the city states. Also used academically to refer to similar arrangements in non-Greek cultures.
• amphidOne of a pair of chemosensory sense organs positioned laterally on the head of a nematode.
• AmphidamasVarious characters in Greek mythology. See Wikipedia.
• amphideticThat extends in front of, and behind, the beak
• amphidiorthosisA figure in which the speaker corrects or qualifies both what has been said and the hearer's potential reaction; a double correction that prevents offense or shock .
• amphidromiaIn Ancient Greece, a ceremonial feast celebrated on the fifth or seventh day after the birth of a child.
• amphigenousgrowing on all sides of a leaf, as in the lichens
• amphiscianThat lives in the tropics (and thus casts shadows northward and southward at different times of the year).
• amphoreusAn Ancient Greek unit of liquid measure reckoned as equivalent to about 9 gallons.
• amphoriskosA two-handled jar anciently used to hold perfume, etc.
• ampyxA woman's headband (sometimes of metal), for binding the front hair in Ancient Greece.
• AmyclasA mythical king of Sparta.
• an-not; used to make words that have a sense opposite to the word (or stem) to which the prefix is attached. Used with stems that begin with vowels and "h".
• ana-up, above, upward
• anabasiusA kind of courier who travelled on horseback or in a chariot, conveying messages and commands.
• anabaticrising (up a slope)
• anabibazonThe ascending lunar node, where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic hemisphere.
• anacampsisA figure of speech in which the speaker returns to the original subject after a digression.
• anacampticReflecting or reflected (sound or light).
• anacampticsThe science of reflection of light or sound
• anacatharticThat produces vomiting.
• anacephalaeosisA brief restatement or repetition of the principal heads or main points of an argument or discourse; a recapitulation, especially as used in the peroration to refresh the audience's memory and reinforce the argument.
• anacharisAny freshwater weed of genus Elodea in the frog's-bit family (Hydrocharitaceae), native to America; the waterweed or water thyme.
• anachoresisThe transportation of foreign bodies via blood or lymph and subsequent collection at a site of inflammation.
• anachorismSomething that is incongruous with the spirit of the country.
• anaclasisan exchange of place between a short syllable and a preceding long one that is frequent in Ionic metres.
• anaclasticProduced by the refraction of light, as seen through water.
• anaclisisThe choice of an object of libidinal attachment on the basis of a resemblance to early childhood protective and parental figures.
• anacliticDenoting a person whose choice of love-interest arises from the dependence of the libido on another instinct (e.g., hunger).
• anacoenosisA rhetorical device by which a speaker appeals to their hearers or opponents for their opinion on the point or matter in debate.
• anacolouthaA non-reciprocal synonym; a word of meaning similar to a word but that cannot substitute for that word in all uses.
• anacoluthiaA syntactic construction in which an element is followed by another that does not agree properly
• anacrogynousProducing archegonia from cells other than the apical cell of a reproductive branch.
• anacrotismA secondary notch in the pulse curve, obtained in a sphygmographic tracing, possibly indicative of an abnormal pulse due to heart or arterial issues.
• anacyclosisA cyclical theory of political evolution.